Equinox
by LeanaVine
Summary: A new Miraculous wielder arrives in Paris. (Includes OC. Warning of mild violence. Includes eventual Adrien/OC. Ninya, Nino/Alya. Slight Nathaniel/OC.)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hope you guys enjoy the new story. It's always fun when I get to write with an OC.

As always, I do not share any views expressed by any characters in this story. And I own nothing in this story, except for Briella and her eventually second identity.

Okay, please read, review, and enjoy!

* * *

Briella stared at the floor, tracing patterns in the wood with her eyes. "Class, meet Briella Fiore. She hails from Milan, Italy," Miss Bustier announced. The teen looked up, tucking a lock of platinum blond hair behind her left ear. Her hair was short, almost reaching her shoulders, and her bangs framed her chocolate brown eyes. There was a small, golden hoop in her right nostril: her only piercing. She wore a light blue cardigan that hung almost to her knees, and white shorts.

A girl with pink hair in pigtails caught her eye when she waved. "You can come sit next to me," she offered. Briella gave a small nod, then walked up the stairs to join her.

As she was setting down her bag, the teacher spoke again. "Briella, would you like to tell the class anything about you?"

She froze, looking up to see everyone's eyes on her. Briella swallowed her eyes shifting back to the floor, then said, "Umm...I'm not really sure what to say. My favorite color is purple. My father is a fireman, and my mother is a dermatologist. I'm an only child if you don't count our cats." The class chuckled, and she smiled, feeling a little more comfortable. She reminded herself to breathe.

With that, she sat down and class began. Everyone was required to keep a journal, in which for the first fifteen minutes of class, they would write down their thoughts. Briella wasn't really sure what to write. She wasn't sure if the teacher would be taking these up to grade at any point in time, so she didn't know what all she could share.

 _This move has been hard. I had to leave behind my best friend, Kelly, and the home where I grew up. Father just started at the local fire station, and Mom decided that she's going to open her own practice here, and I know she's excited about that. I hope to make new friends here. It's hard to tell right now, but so far, everyone seems nice._

 _I'm hoping that this move will bring new, exciting beginnings._

The girl sitting next to her identified herself as Alix. She warned Briella to steer clear of the blonde and the redhead in the front row. "Those girls are trouble. Bullies, that's all they are," she whispered. Briella nodded in understanding, examining the girls Alix warned her about. The redhead looked innocent and a bit nerdy, but the blonde looked dangerously pretty, and the new girl hoped she wouldn't be a problem.

During lunch, Briella and Alix were joined by three boys. "Bri, this is Kim, Max, and Nathaniel," she stated, pointing to each of them. Kim and Max gave her warm smiles, but Nathaniel was timid, just giving a small wave and looking away.

The Italian smiled meekly. "Hi, it's nice to meet you all." They all sat down together and ate, Kim and Max discussing their biology homework. Briella learned more about Alix, like how much she loved sports and being in the great outdoors, and how competitive she was. She demonstrated this by challenging Kim to an arm wrestling match, which she won. Nathaniel stayed silent the entire time, glancing at the new girl occasionally. When she smiled back at him, he looked away.

She looked up and met eyes with a blonde boy across the cafeteria, his green gaze burning her for only a second before he turned away. Briella felt heat rush to her face and ears. "Alix, who is he?" she asked, subtly pointing in the boy's direction.

Alix rolled her eyes. "Honestly, what does everyone see in him? Sure, he's a model, but he's not that great." When Briella looked confused, she continued. "That's Adrien. All the girls at this school are in love with him." She paused when Adrien looked up at them, his eyes darting back down to the table. "Huh...that was weird." Alix popped her shoulder, then pointed to Briella's half-eaten sandwich. "Are you gonna finish that?"

"Adrien?" The blonde looked up to see Nino, Alya, and Marinette staring at him. Alya quirked a brow. "You feeling okay?" She had stopped mid-bite, her pasta slowly sliding off her fork.

He nodded. "Yeah, of course. My mind's just wandering today." Adrien ate another forkfull of his salad, and noticed that Marinette looked a little deflated for some reason. When they connected eyes, he gave her a little smile, and she smiled back.

* * *

That night at home, Briella stared absentmindedly at her plate of spaghetti. "So how was your first day, Bri?" her mother asked.

With a shrug, the girl replied, "It was okay. I made a few friends, I think." She patted her napkin to her mouth, collecting excess sauce from her lips.

The rest of the conversation consisted of how things were at the fire station, and her mother's hunt for a building to start her practice in. Briella excused herself, saying that she needed to do her homework. After studying biology for a half hour, she sighed, looking at her phone. There was a text from Kelly.

 **Hey girl how was your first day? :p**

Briella smiled, texting back, **It was good. Miss me yet? -3-**

Kelly: **Girl u know I do! When r u gonna come visit?**

Briella: **Idk, train tickets are so expensive. Like I know Mom would give me the money, but I'm scared to ask.**

Kelly: **Well ask anyway! I want you back here asap!**

After discussing it with her mother, they decided she could see Kelly once a month for a weekend. Briella worked out the details with Kelly, and they decided to hang out two weeks from then. The blonde was so excited and happy, she felt like she could explode. She and Kelly chatted on the phone for about an hour about Briella's new school, her TV on in the background.

 **"Are there any cute boys?"** Kelly probed.

With a little giggle, the blonde replied, "A couple, but you know me. I'm not much of a flirt. It's hard enough to make friends, I'm not sure if I'm capable of having a boyfriend." Her mind turned to Adrien, and she blushed, happy that Kelly couldn't see her. Suddenly she paused as her TV caught her attention. It had been on some teen drama, but had switched to a breaking news update. "Kelly, let me call you back."

The reporter on the news looked distressed as she explained the situation. "As odd as it sounds, plants have taken over Paris. Large vines are spreading throughout the city, destroying buildings and overturning cars. Strange flowers appeared and began to take people hostage, swallowing them whole. Reports claim that Ladybug and Chat Noir are on the scene, but for now, the people of Paris are advised to stay indoors."

Briella stood, pulling on her shoes. Without thought, she climbed out of her window and onto the fire escape. Giant flowers eating people? Superheroes? Could this be real? She had to see for herself.

* * *

"Chat Noir! Look out!"

The boy in black dove out of the way of a vine slashing at him. One of the giant flowers, which looked more like a venus fly trap, roared, swiping at them again. "Any ideas Ladybug?" He rolled out of the flower's attack zone, crouching behind a car.

Ladybug shook her head, pressed against a dumpster in an alley. She stood, tossing her yo-yo into the air. "Lucky Charm!" From a bright flash of pink fell a pair of garden shears. "I guess this could be handy..." She ran to the flower, attacking the stem. A screech filled the air, and the plant fell to the asphalt, drying up into a brown husk. Ladybug winked at Chat Noir. "Let's go find Lady Dahlia."

The pair dashed through the street, Marinette chopping down all the flowers they passed. Some held people, who crawled out of the wilted plant to run to safety. Ladybug's earring continued beeping, until only one dot remained. "I need to de-transform. Keep looking for her, okay?" The hero darted into an alley, taking her true form. "Hurry Tikki," she pleaded to the Kwami, handing her a croissant from her purse.

Chat Noir continued on his path, dodging attacks from vines as he went. Suddenly there was a scream, and he whipped around to see one of the flowers holding a girl in its vines. "Let go of her!" he yelled, running towards them. Chat extended his staff, smacking the vine. It dropped the blonde, and she fell to the ground. The flower attacked again, and Chat stuck his staff in its mouth. While the plant was preoccupied, he picked up the girl, carrying her to safety. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Her brown eyes were wide, but she nodded. "Thank you..." she mumbled.

He gave a smile. "All part of the job, little lady." Then he dashed off again, leaving Briella stunned. Did that really just happen?

Later that night, Briella couldn't stop watching the news. The story of Lady Dahlia was all they talked about, and how her flowers had ravaged the city of Paris. Ladybug and Chat Noir eventually put a stop to her destruction, and set everything back to the way it had been before. Briella was fascinated. Chat Noir, that was the name of the boy that had saved her. She had to know more about him.


	2. Chapter 2

That night, Briella only slept a couple of hours, and instead stayed up researching Ladybug and Chat Noir. She stumbled upon a website called the _Ladyblog_ , which was all about the superhero duo. It was fascinating, all the information that was stored there. Apparently, they had mysteriously appeared one day after a villain called Stoneheart began terrorizing the city. An interview with Ladybug by the creator of the blog, Alya Césaire, revealed that the two got their powers from their Miraculouses. For Ladybug, it was her earrings, and Chat's Miraculous was his ring. Briella fell asleep watching ametuer footage of the two superheroes fighting different villains.

The next day, Briella forced herself to get out of bed, videos still playing on her laptop on a loop. She took a quick shower, which helped wake her up, scrubbing the tiredness away from her face. As she brushed her teeth, she watched the two heroes fight Lady Wifi, who was actually Alya. The vlogger said that she didn't remember anything about being a villain, but that none of the Akuma victims ever do. It was hard to turn off the computer and leave for school.

Once there, she headed straight for class, where she was surprised to see Alya sitting in the second row. Briella hadn't really paid much attention to most of the people in her class the day before, and she hadn't been expecting Alya to be in her class. She approached the dark-skinned girl, waving meekly. "Hi Alya."

The girl looked up from her phone, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "Oh, hi. Briella, right? Nice to meet you."

Briella ran a hand through her short hair, smiling shyly at the desk. "After the Lady Dahlia incident yesterday, I umm, found your _Ladyblog_ , and it was so interesting. I'm a big fan of your work." Alya giggled, so Briella blushed, but still smiled, meeting her eyes. "I just...wondered if maybe you wouldn't mind telling me more about Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

The two chatted until the warning bell rang, alerting everyone that they had five minutes until class started. "It's fun getting to talk about my favorite heroes with someone that doesn't know much about them. I'm the expert when it comes to Ladybug and Chat Noir, and there's nothing I love talking about more," Alya stated, a big grin on her face.

Briella couldn't stop smiling, and told her, "I'm glad you didn't mind all my questions. Do you maybe want to discuss them more at lunch?"

"Totally! Girl, I think we're going to be good friends," Alya told her, raising her hand into a fist.

Briella smiled, giving her a fist bump, and took her seat next to Alix. "You two looked chummy," the pinkette said, jabbing Briella with her elbow. The two were surprised when the blonde girl from the front row approached. "What do you want, Chloe?" Alix asked, crossing her arms.

"Please, I'm not here to talk to _you_ ," Chloe announced, taking a 'talk to the hand' pose. "I'm here to speak to the new girl."

With a look of shock, the Italian asked, "Me?"

"You are the new girl, aren't you?" The girl laughed, and it sounded really fake.

Briella squirmed in her seat a little. "Okay, what did you want to talk about?"

Pointing to her nose, Chloe asked, "Did that hurt?"

On instinct, Briella's hand came up to touch her nose ring. "Oh this? No, not really. They use a sharp needle, so you just feel a little pressure. Why, were you thinking of getting one?"

Scoffing, Chloe put her hands on her hips. "My daddy thinks it's a bad idea. Usually he never says no to me, so it's really annoying."

With a little smile, Briella told her, "Well you know, they make fake nose rings. You can just slide it on to see how it looks, and you don't have to go through any pain. And if your dad doesn't like it, you can just take it out before you get home."

Blinking, Chloe smiled. "Wow, good idea, new girl. What was your name again?"

The Italian held out a hand to shake. "Briella."

Chloe hesitated, but shook her hand. Then they both noticed that pretty much everyone was staring at them in awe. In a huff, the rich girl went back to the front row, taking her seat. That's when Briella noticed Adrien sitting in the front row, and she blushed when they connected eyes. He stared at her for a second more, then looked away, pretending to look over his homework.

"Girl, what was that about?" Alix asked her, whispering under her hand.

With a shrug, Briella said, "She doesn't seem so bad to me. I guess she's not usually like that?"

"No!" Alix whispered frantically. "She's only ever mean and spoiled and full of herself. I've never heard her ask anyone for their opinion but Adrien. Please don't become friends with her. She'll just use you to get what she wants from you, like she does Sabrina."

Briella frowned at the back of Chloe's head.

* * *

"What?!" Alya shrieked, planting her palms on the table. "You were there yesterday? No fair! I had babysitting duty and totally missed all the action. So did you see Lady Dahlia?"

Briella giggled at Alya's excitement. "No, I never saw her, but I did get attacked by one of her plants." She looked around the table at everyone else. Nino, Alya's boyfriend, was listening with interest; Marinette, Alya's best friend, was listening, but looked like something was bothering her. Then there was Adrien. He was staring at her when they met eyes, but he quickly busied himself with his algebra textbook. Looking at her lunch - some homemade chicken parm with veggies - she added, "Chat Noir saved my life, too."

Alya leaned forward in her seat. "What happened?"

Twiddling her thumbs, the blonde replied, "I saw what was happening on the news, and I just had to go see it for myself. It was too hard to believe, that plants were attacking the city, until I ran into one. It overturned an SUV, and this guy that was hiding underneath it tried to run away, but the plant caught him in its vines. I went over and tried to help, but he got swallowed, and the flower picked me up next. That's when Chat Noir saved me."

"Wooooow," was all the young reporter could say. "Could I get you saying that on video for the _Ladyblog_? I love hearing survivor stories."

Marinette piped up, "Well, technically, Chat Noir didn't save your life. You would've been fine after Ladybug saved the city."

"Oh, that's right," the Italian stated. "I forgot that after the battle, Ladybug puts everything in the city back to normal." She smiled. "She's really incredible, isn't she?"

"Adrien's a big Ladybug fan," Nino added, elbowing his best friend.

The blonde boy looked a little flustered. "I mean, of course I am. I think everyone loves Ladybug, don't they? She is a hero, after all."

Alya continued telling Briella stories about the two superheroes until the end of lunch bell rang. The girls walked together to their next class, but Marinette hung back, ducking into a bathroom. Tikki flew out of her purse, looking at the distressed teen. "What's wrong, Marinette?"

"I just can't stand watching Alya with the new girl. They're so buddy, buddy, it makes me sick," Marinette replied, crossing her arms.

With a giggle, the Kwami asked, "Are you sure you're not just jealous that Alya has a new friend?" When the girl said nothing, Tikki continued. "You don't need to worry, Marinette. Even if Alya does make a new friend, you're still her best friend. She's not going to try to replace you."

Smiling weakly, Marinette nodded. "You're right, Tikki. I'm just not used to seeing Alya be so excited to talk to someone other than me. I wonder if Nino is jealous of Briella, too."


End file.
